Goguen manned the NPCA booth in a highly visible area amongst the other 45 exhibitors on the tradeshow floor – only one of which was a precast manufacturer. Additionally, FOWA organizers required attendees seeking CEUs to visit booths and collect signatures, which gave Goguen ample opportunity to further engage with the tradeshow audience.

On the first day of the conference, Goguen offered an education session titled “Essentials for Proper Installation of Precast Concrete Wastewater Structures” to approximately 70 attendees, many of which were installers and maintenance providers.

Goguen estimated there were four Florida Department of Health (FDOH) officials in attendance, one of which provided contact information for Goguen to offer NPCA’s assistance in updating the current FDOH septic tank specifications.

In his final assessment of the conference, Goguen believes NPCA’s participation in the conference was a good investment of time and finances since there is not a large presence of precast at the conference with only one precast manufacturer in attendance this year. Goguen also noted that while there is an abundance of septic systems in Florida, there is a relatively small number of NPCA members who focus mainly on onsite wastewater throughout the state.

Goguen spoke with several attendees on using precast versus other materials and found that many of those people preferred precast septic tanks but used poly/fiberglass tanks due to ease of procurement, transportation, and installation.

Goguen also found some areas of the state simply did not have precast concrete septic tank suppliers nearby, such as Orlando.